Journalism of Courage
Samajwadi Party president chief Mulayam Singh Yadavs dream project to have a lion safari in his native district,Etawah,has once again run into trouble. Taking note of alleged violation of provisions of the Forest Conservation Act,1980,the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has asked Uttar Pradesh to immediately stop all work and submit an action taken report within 15 days.
In a letter to the Principal Secretary (Forests) on July 1,the MoEF said that the state government was going ahead with the project illegally,as no permission under the Forest Conservation Act had been taken from the MoEF for using forestland for the purpose of the proposed lion safari. A copy of the letter was sent to the Chief Secretary.
The MoEF has treated the lion safari as a tourism project with a commercial angle. Taking up any non-forest activity,including raising of permanent structures,amounts to violation of the provision of the Forest Act.
Further,the working plan of the Etawah forest division for the period 2005-06 to 2015-16 has already been approved by Government of India. Also,the Fisher forest block,which the lion safari is proposed,was a reserved forest,the letter pointed out. The ministry has reportedly taken strong note of reports of felling of a large number of trees and the ground being levelled for the purpose of creation of the lion safari.
